Digital Writing & Rhetoric:
Composing with Words, Images and Sound
Jesse Funston, English Education Major, Miami University
Heidi McKee, Assistant Professor, English, Miami University
Sarah Olinger, Strategic Communications Major, Miami University
Abstract: In this collaborative presentation, we (an instructor and two undergraduates) will discuss the curriculum, teaching, and learning in a digital writing course. For an entire semester, students researched a topic of their choosing, composing several multimedia arguments for a variety of audiences. Issues we will discuss include (1) curriculum design for students with diverse prior learning experiences and technological expertise, (2) integrating technological, rhetorical, and design-based learning, and (3) balancing analysis and production.
Heidi’s Discussion of the Course Design and Curriculum
As a cross-listed course that also fulfills the writing requirement for English Education majors, English/Interactive Media Studies 224 draws students from diverse majors and with diverse prior knowledge of composing with digital media and with diverse learning needs and goals. Some students (mostly from English and Education) had never done anything more than surf the web, download music, and word-process before whereas others (mostly from IMS, Marketing, and Fine Arts) were far more versed in software programs such as InDesign, FinalCut, Photoshop than I.
Thus, when designing the curriculum for this multimodal rhetoric course there were a number of issues I needed to consider:
Issue: Students with widely divergent backgrounds—academically and technologically. How to balance their diverse learning needs and goals.
Issue: Introducing students to rhetorics of multiple modalities and multiple technologies.
Issue: Avoiding common pitfall of flashy multimedia projects that look pretty but are empty of content or real purpose.
Issue: Avoiding another common pitfall—fragmentation of projects where students compose one project about X and then a project about Y with no meaningful connections and carry-over.
Solutions I tried in English 224:
Focal Topic Selection: I asked students to choose a focal topic of interest to research for the entire semester, blogging about their thoughts and research on a weekly basis. Students chose topics such as public service, reading in a digital age, youth and cell phone usage, and endangered species. From these broad topics, they composed a variety of assignments throughout the semester, composing specific arguments about some specific aspect of their focal topic for specific audiences enacting effective rhetorical strategies for the media and genres in which they chose to compose.
Flexible Assignment Parameters: For all major composing assignments, students chose the arguments to make and the audiences whom to address. For three preliminary assignments, I designated the technologies and modes to use:
--Typographical Remix: text (and text as image) in Photoshop
--Visual-Verbal: text and still image in Photoshop, InDesign, PowerPoint or Word
--Visual-Verbal-Aural: text, still image, audio (and video if some wished) in Final Cut, iMovie, or Movie Maker
For the Multimodal Argument Project (MAP) students chose the arguments, the audiences, and the specific technologies, modalities, and genres. Some students composed web sites, others made movies, others made Flash projects.
Scaffolding: This was key—scaffolding of rhetorical analysis and argument composition, scaffolding of technological literacies (functional, rhetorical, critical—Selber, 2004), scaffolding of research, scaffolding of copyright discussions, and scaffolding of assignments. See course schedule for more detailed perspective on this: http://english22409.wordpress.com/schedule
"Real-World/Audience" Applicability: As much as possible I encouraged students to write for real audiences beyond just me and their peers in the course.
Reflective Essays: For every major assignment, students wrote a 1-4 page single-spaced analysis of the rhetorical decisions they made in composing their project, the process(es) they tried when composing, and what they thought was most and least effective about their project, what they would do differently if they had more tech know-how, etc.
Ultimately, I think the class went well. Student comments in evaluations were incredibly positive—every student felt their learning needs were met and all appreciated knowing more about rhetoric in relation to digital compositions. Students didn’t like keeping a blog at first and found it tiresome, but by the end of the semester they appreciated having all of this research to draw from and to not be scrambling for information at the end of the semester as they were trying to develop complex projects. When I teach the course again, I would aim to integrate the blogs more into class discussions and to do even more about discussing copyright.
Jesse’s Discussion and Recommendations
Keys for Involving Multimedia in the Classroom through a research project
A multimedia research project can be an excellent way for students to take a stance on an issue or topic they are truly interested in, while becoming familiar with classroom technology that is becoming more and more important in today’s world. In my own experience with a multimedia research project I investigated illegal poaching of endangered animals while becoming familiar with Blogging, Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, as well as various video and audio editing software.
The poster I made for the visual-verbal assignment, the movie I made for the visual-verbal-aural assignment, and the movie I made for the MAP are all available below.
Freedom
• Most times students would much rather be told step-by-step what to do, giving them freedom on projects (especially topics) requires a bit more thinking but helps in the long run.
• In my own experience with multimedia in the classroom, I particularly felt the pressure of having to choose a topic on which to do a semester of research, but in the end it worked out. By choosing my own topic, I selected something I had an invested interest in, and led to me working harder on the project than if I had been given a generic topic.
Time
• Time is essential, the more time students have to work, the better a project can turn out. Rather than giving a one or two week deadline, have students work on projects for at least a month. You can even break up the project into smaller pieces so students have reports on their progress.
• During a longer project it is essential to check in on a students progress, or have “mini” deadlines, to ensure the student makes the most of his or her time.
• When students work on multimedia, they will want to make changes, and many times they will enter these types of projects with little background knowledge on the technology. With an extended time period students have freedom to experiment, and will learn much more than if they simply rush to a deadline.
Research through Blogs
• Blogs seem highly informal, and many would consider them not to be an effective classroom tool. However, by keeping research on a topic posted on blogs, all the information is stored in one place, and it makes the “research” must less cumbersome for the student. Also, if the student is lucky they may receive outside opinions or help from outside sources viewing the Blog. The possibilities of this research method are almost endless.
• Blogging also allows a student to become much more informed on a topic of choice. This limits the amount of research time the student has to commit to during the project, leaving much more time and mental capacity to concentrate on the digital media aspect in favor of the actual topic.
Sarah’s Discussion and Recommendations
For my focal topic, I researched the Cycle of Poverty, looking at the causes and possible solutions for poverty in the United States. I am particularly interested in this topic because of my work with Clubhouse, a faith-based after-school and weekend activity club serving mostly disadvantaged children. Besides providing fun and companionship, Clubhouse teaches children academic and social skills that may help them succeed in school and in life in general. Clubhouse did not have any web presence. So for this course, I designed a website for Clubhouse that I update frequently and that has helped connect Clubhouse with many more parents and children.
When composing this web site, I enacted a lot of what I learned in the course about design and rhetoric. I also included a number of multimodal elements, including two videos that I made about Clubhouse that are uploaded to YouTube and embedded on the site.
What I learned
• Research is fundamental to generate ideas by comparing other similar projects, and to see what is working in each draft of your project. Collaboration with students and professors is invaluable to help shape and create projects that will be viewed by many other people.
• Learning from other students and getting feedback is important. I realized the significance of not being committed to my first draft, but willing to do multiple iterations until it’s correct.
What's been beneficial a year after the course
• Text and font information: when to use which font family, the details and intricacies of each font that play a part in the larger scope of a project.
• Consciousness of CRAP (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity) principles from Robin Williams. Absolutely essential in anything I create, from websites to video, posters and fliers, and even a final project paper. Always considering the CRAP principles is absolutely invaluable in what I have created since this course.
Recommendations for teachers using a similar type of project
• Give time and feedback for students choosing a semester long topic, guide students to passionate topics that can be built upon. Conceivably have students generate a list of subtopics in the beginning of a long project to get a scope of what can be done within their subject, as the beginning of a semester is the time when students are excited about it. There is automatically a resource list to pull from later.
• Be flexible! Flexibility in deadlines or project requirement in large scale projects is helpful, especially when students haven’t worked with the software before.
• Present, utilize, and allow a wide range of tools. Give overviews of lots of different programs so students can have baseline knowledge to use all of them and go in depth with what each student prefers and feels comfortable using.
Composing with Words, Images and Sound
Jesse Funston, English Education Major, Miami University
Heidi McKee, Assistant Professor, English, Miami University
Sarah Olinger, Strategic Communications Major, Miami University
Course Web Site:
http://english22409.wordpress.com
Abstract: In this collaborative presentation, we (an instructor and two undergraduates) will discuss the curriculum, teaching, and learning in a digital writing course. For an entire semester, students researched a topic of their choosing, composing several multimedia arguments for a variety of audiences. Issues we will discuss include (1) curriculum design for students with diverse prior learning experiences and technological expertise, (2) integrating technological, rhetorical, and design-based learning, and (3) balancing analysis and production.
Heidi’s Discussion of the Course Design and Curriculum
As a cross-listed course that also fulfills the writing requirement for English Education majors, English/Interactive Media Studies 224 draws students from diverse majors and with diverse prior knowledge of composing with digital media and with diverse learning needs and goals. Some students (mostly from English and Education) had never done anything more than surf the web, download music, and word-process before whereas others (mostly from IMS, Marketing, and Fine Arts) were far more versed in software programs such as InDesign, FinalCut, Photoshop than I.
Thus, when designing the curriculum for this multimodal rhetoric course there were a number of issues I needed to consider:
Solutions I tried in English 224:
--Typographical Remix: text (and text as image) in Photoshop
--Visual-Verbal: text and still image in Photoshop, InDesign, PowerPoint or Word
--Visual-Verbal-Aural: text, still image, audio (and video if some wished) in Final Cut, iMovie, or Movie Maker
For the Multimodal Argument Project (MAP) students chose the arguments, the audiences, and the specific technologies, modalities, and genres. Some students composed web sites, others made movies, others made Flash projects.
Ultimately, I think the class went well. Student comments in evaluations were incredibly positive—every student felt their learning needs were met and all appreciated knowing more about rhetoric in relation to digital compositions. Students didn’t like keeping a blog at first and found it tiresome, but by the end of the semester they appreciated having all of this research to draw from and to not be scrambling for information at the end of the semester as they were trying to develop complex projects. When I teach the course again, I would aim to integrate the blogs more into class discussions and to do even more about discussing copyright.
Jesse’s Discussion and Recommendations
Keys for Involving Multimedia in the Classroom through a research project
A multimedia research project can be an excellent way for students to take a stance on an issue or topic they are truly interested in, while becoming familiar with classroom technology that is becoming more and more important in today’s world. In my own experience with a multimedia research project I investigated illegal poaching of endangered animals while becoming familiar with Blogging, Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, as well as various video and audio editing software.
The poster I made for the visual-verbal assignment, the movie I made for the visual-verbal-aural assignment, and the movie I made for the MAP are all available below.
Freedom
• Most times students would much rather be told step-by-step what to do, giving them freedom on projects (especially topics) requires a bit more thinking but helps in the long run.
• In my own experience with multimedia in the classroom, I particularly felt the pressure of having to choose a topic on which to do a semester of research, but in the end it worked out. By choosing my own topic, I selected something I had an invested interest in, and led to me working harder on the project than if I had been given a generic topic.
Time
• Time is essential, the more time students have to work, the better a project can turn out. Rather than giving a one or two week deadline, have students work on projects for at least a month. You can even break up the project into smaller pieces so students have reports on their progress.
• During a longer project it is essential to check in on a students progress, or have “mini” deadlines, to ensure the student makes the most of his or her time.
• When students work on multimedia, they will want to make changes, and many times they will enter these types of projects with little background knowledge on the technology. With an extended time period students have freedom to experiment, and will learn much more than if they simply rush to a deadline.
Research through Blogs
• Blogs seem highly informal, and many would consider them not to be an effective classroom tool. However, by keeping research on a topic posted on blogs, all the information is stored in one place, and it makes the “research” must less cumbersome for the student. Also, if the student is lucky they may receive outside opinions or help from outside sources viewing the Blog. The possibilities of this research method are almost endless.
• Blogging also allows a student to become much more informed on a topic of choice. This limits the amount of research time the student has to commit to during the project, leaving much more time and mental capacity to concentrate on the digital media aspect in favor of the actual topic.
Sarah’s Discussion and Recommendations
For my focal topic, I researched the Cycle of Poverty, looking at the causes and possible solutions for poverty in the United States. I am particularly interested in this topic because of my work with Clubhouse, a faith-based after-school and weekend activity club serving mostly disadvantaged children. Besides providing fun and companionship, Clubhouse teaches children academic and social skills that may help them succeed in school and in life in general. Clubhouse did not have any web presence. So for this course, I designed a website for Clubhouse that I update frequently and that has helped connect Clubhouse with many more parents and children.
Clubhouse Web Site http://www.users.muohio.edu/olingesa/clubhouse
(Note: All audio-visual images of children and Clubhouse volunteers are used with permission.)
When composing this web site, I enacted a lot of what I learned in the course about design and rhetoric. I also included a number of multimodal elements, including two videos that I made about Clubhouse that are uploaded to YouTube and embedded on the site.
What I learned
• Research is fundamental to generate ideas by comparing other similar projects, and to see what is working in each draft of your project. Collaboration with students and professors is invaluable to help shape and create projects that will be viewed by many other people.
• Learning from other students and getting feedback is important. I realized the significance of not being committed to my first draft, but willing to do multiple iterations until it’s correct.
What's been beneficial a year after the course
• Text and font information: when to use which font family, the details and intricacies of each font that play a part in the larger scope of a project.
• Consciousness of CRAP (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity) principles from Robin Williams. Absolutely essential in anything I create, from websites to video, posters and fliers, and even a final project paper. Always considering the CRAP principles is absolutely invaluable in what I have created since this course.
Recommendations for teachers using a similar type of project
• Give time and feedback for students choosing a semester long topic, guide students to passionate topics that can be built upon. Conceivably have students generate a list of subtopics in the beginning of a long project to get a scope of what can be done within their subject, as the beginning of a semester is the time when students are excited about it. There is automatically a resource list to pull from later.
• Be flexible! Flexibility in deadlines or project requirement in large scale projects is helpful, especially when students haven’t worked with the software before.
• Present, utilize, and allow a wide range of tools. Give overviews of lots of different programs so students can have baseline knowledge to use all of them and go in depth with what each student prefers and feels comfortable using.